


lowlife.

by planetshoto



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Best Friends to Lovers, F/M, First Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other, Pining Kuroo Tetsurou
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:06:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26196850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/planetshoto/pseuds/planetshoto
Summary: kuroo will always be the highlight of your lowlife.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Reader
Kudos: 34





	lowlife.

his neighbourhood is silent, the only sign of living being the blinking of the ancient street lamps. from where you’re sat on his roof, the gentle midnight breeze tousles your hair and the cooling temperature burns your cheeks and nose scarlet.  you scuff your sneakers against the moss-covered tiles as you take another sip of your drink; you’ve been out here so long the bubbles have gone flat and it’s melted into a lukewarm syrup in your grasp. it doesn’t taste good at all, but you’re close to finishing it anyway.

between the two of you an old radio reminiscent of the seventies wheezes a feeble tune that you don’t recognise, the sound grainy and distorted. it's painful to the ears but you’re glad that it at least creates some background noise.

you're due to start your third and last year at nekoma high school next week and you have mixed feelings about it. it'd be the year in which you turn eighteen too, which brings more freedom as well as more responsibility. the thought prompts you to take another half-hearted swig of your drink.

there‘s nothing you’d change about your time at nekoma so far and a smile tugs at the corner of your lips as you allow yourself to reminisce; you remember first befriending yaku morisuke, a short (but don’t tell him that) and headstrong boy who’d quickly became one of your closest friends - his spite is something you cherish too, even when it's directed at you. along with yaku, you found yourself growing closer to his friend, nobuyuki kai. while yaku is chaotic at the best of times, kai is the perfect foil; he rarely acts out and is always there to subdue yaku (and often apologise on behalf of his brashness). kai is the kind of friend you can talk to about anything and he’ll always give you helpful advice even before you ask for it.

and there's _him_.

the boy slumped next to you now; his raven bedhead has become further dishevelled by the wind and the constant hand carding through it. your gaze flickers between this and his golden eyes, glittering in the radiance of the moon. they're trained on something in the far distance but you didn’t mind as this gives you a front row seat to the masterpiece that is kuroo tetsurou’s side profile.

on your third day as a nekoma student you’d been wandering the halls during the break, looking for your two new friends. it seemed that no classroom was concealing kai and yaku and so on a whim you'd decided to check the gym, laughing to yourself because _there's no way they’d be here, right?_

just as you were about to push the door open, you heard loud arguing from the other side.

“have we met before?”  recognising the voice as yaku’s, you were already picturing his eyebrows twitching in irritation. you hardly hesitated as you burst through the door with thunder in your eyes.

“morisuke! you better not be-”

you stood with your arms crossed over your chest, glaring daggers at yaku, before you'd realise what was going on. or rather, who he was talking to. kissing his teeth, yaku tried his best to defend himself. but you were no longer interested in him.

opposite yaku and in front of kai, another boy had been staring dumbly at you from the moment you had entered. you’d never be able to forget his squid-ink spikes or the mischievous smirk on his lips as he ogled you in return. and you weren’t a fan of the way your heart rate picked up and your cheeks grew hot as you continued to stare.

“and what’s your name, chibi-chan?”

_ brilliant, he had a nickname for you already. _

almost three years later, you chuckle to yourself on the roof of kuroo’s house. this brings his attention to you and his eyebrow arches.

“chibi-chan, what are you laughing at?”

you groan, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

“stop with that dumb nickname,” you huff, leaning over to rest your head on the shoulder you’d just punched. underneath you, kuroo tenses but makes no move to shuffle away; his skin is surprisingly warm even through his shirt and you suddenly find your eyelids drooping shut.

you don’t know how long passes before kuroo moves his shoulder sharply.

“don’t fall asleep on me now, y/n. you’re the one who wants to spend all night up here,” he chides and you blink awake, grimacing at the reminder of your determined words.

“maybe i change my mind.” this comes out in a sleepy mumble and kuroo chuckles. with his other hand he pushes your head back onto his shoulder.

“it’s okay, i'm only kidding. we can go inside whenever you want, chibi-chan”

if there's one thing you like about kuroo, it's that he never takes anything too far. of course, it’s in his nature and duty as your best friend to push you outside your comfort zone, like the time he forced you to ride a notoriously scary rollercoaster the first and last time) you visited a theme park with him. but the second you start to feel truly trapped he always backs down and goes out of his way to prevent anyone else from pressuring you to do something you don’t want to. he often replied to things with ‘i’m just kidding’ and although it brings people to the wrong conclusion that he's aloof and unable to take anything seriously, you're really thankful for it.

“i know what will wake you up!” kuroo’s sudden passion shakes you out of your daydream and you look up at him with doubtful eyes. he chuckles again and immediately averts his gaze, hoping you hadn't seen the red dusting his cheeks.  this time, he nudges his shoulder more gently and you sit upright to allow him to do whatever he's planning. he reaches behind him to the radio you’d pretty much forgotten about and begins to fiddle with the dials, eyebrows knitting in concentration. biting back a laugh at the sight, you resist the urge to take a picture with your phone.  the radio channels flicker back and forth as kuroo tries to find the right frequency. in the meantime you chug the rest of your drink, almost spitting it back out at the sound of a familiar song crackling into the night air.

“wait!" you splutter, discarding your empty can aside. “i love this song!”

kuroo’s sure he’s never heard you listening to this song in his life but he doesn’t question you, pulling his hands away from the dials like they’d suddenly become scorching hot. within the first few seconds, he comes to the conclusion that he likes the song too.

and he likes the sight of you, swaying to the thrum of the bass with your eyes half-closed and a dazed smile on your face. he hasn’t stopped thinking about you since your first meeting that day in the entrance of the gym, where you’d interrupted his petty argument with yaku. at first he’d been irritated by the intrusion, ready to chew out whoever had stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time, but when he saw you standing there he found himself wanting to know you better.

all through your first and second year, the two of you had grown impossibly close - to the point where yaku and even kai often commented about it.

“the two of you should just date already,” yaku often mentioned during volleyball practice. as his captain and his best friend, kuroo berates the libero and forces him to do an extra set of drills the minute your name passes his lips. but he couldn’t lie, he’d been thinking about it to; he often played with the idea of being your boyfriend officially, taking you out on whatever date you’d like and spoiling you with anything he could.

but suddenly volleyball became the most important thing in his life: every time nationals come around the corner, you and kuroo spent less time together outside of school. even in school, he would be practicing his blocks, spikes and receives. obviously you support him and the others like the diligent friend-to-the-team you are and happily go to every game you possibly can; you’d be kidding yourself if you said you didn’t miss the times you and tetsurou and sometimes kai and yaku would spend messing around after school during these times.

it hadn’t taken you long to realise that since kuroo's in his last year of high school, going to nationals suddenly is a much bigger deal to the nekoma captain. never wanting to seem discouraging, you’d listened to his fantasies about winning nationals and offered your input in whatever way seemed helpful at the time. but the thought of you having to spend lunch and break alone, since your only friends were, in fact, the volleyball team, deeply saddened you and sent dread swirling through your veins. despite this, you couldn’t bring yourself to say anything: kuroo isn’t actually yours, no matter how much you want him to be.

but in that moment on kuroo’s roof, you allow yourself the privilege of forgetting about everything but you and him sitting under the stars. your swaying becomes more emphasised and you giggle, eyes still closed.

“oi chibi-chan, are you drunk?” kuroo laughs and your turn to look at him with only a lazy grin. he begins to sing along to the end of the first verse, despite stumbling on the lyrics, and you find yourself laughing harder.

in the buildup to the chorus, you make a brash decision.

“ _baby you’re the highlight of my lowlife,_ ” you sing, looking him dead in the eyes. you pour out all the feelings you’ve tried so hard to ignore until now into this one line, letting them drown in the quiet night and kuroo’s laugh. his smile drops a fraction and for a nightmare of a second, you’re worried that you’ve ruined everything. your voice peters out and you’re not laughing anymore either, tears brimming in your eyes.

_ you’ve gone and done it now, _ you reprimand yourself. you can’t bring yourself to look him in the eye, choosing to scratch harder at the tiles with your sneakers instead.

an awkward moment passes.  “tetsu, i-”

suddenly you’re overwhelmed by his body heat and the smell of his cologne as he cages you in with his body, lips pressing onto yours. as the shock wears off, your hands bunch the collar of his shirt and you smile.

“ _yeah, you make the difference._

_baby, you’re the highlight of my lowlife._ ”


End file.
